From the literature, various methods and protocols are believed to be understood for communication between integrated circuits, for example for the purpose of configuration.
Serial interfaces such as SBI transmit data serially but regularly use a plurality of lines, in particular using a further line for synchronization in addition to the data line. Thus, in the case of the SPI interface, each participant is connected to the following three common lines: SDO (Serial Data Out) or MISO (Master In Slave Out), SDI (Serial Data In) or MOSI (Master Out Slave In), and SCK (Serial Clock). In addition, the participants are connected to a common ground.
The interface of the I2C bus, discussed for example in WO 03/005211 A2, is made up of two line terminals and a ground connection, with the possibility of selectively addressing individual participants on the bus.
Patent document US 2008/0282005 A1 discusses a method for communication between integrated circuits that is placed on an existing physical layer of the OSI model, and additionally provides for example configuration information in the associated communication layer. In this way, additional connections are saved.
Patent document DE 0588274 A1 discusses a further method for communication on a line. The transmitter releases the communication line, and the receiver sends pulses that the transmitter counts. At the same time, the receiver checks whether the pulse was correctly outputted on the line. When the number that is to be transmitted is reached, the transmitter again blocks the transmission line. The receiver knows the number of pulses and has thus received the number.
Patent document U.S. Pat. No. 5,668,716 A discusses a design for single-wire communication using an adapter that converts the signals onto a serial two-wire interface.
Patent document GB 2295039 A discusses a serial interface having a line that presupposes that the clock lines of both circuits are coupled and, if warranted, terminated in matching fashion.
In U.S. Pat. No. 5,864,872 A, a serial communication via a line is discussed in which the line is held high by the receiver and the transmitter then, in a defined time interval, either pulls it to ground or leaves it in its high state. The receiver checks the status of the line and recognizes whether 0 or 1 was sent.